23 NOVEMBER 1844, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

LORD WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY* ON THE CONDITION-OF-ENGLAND QUESTION.

" Winne there is a will there is a way." It is of good omen for the country that the wealthier classes, whose circumstances afford them leisure for attending to public affairs and the means of making experiments, have been so generally roused to the necessity of thoroughly investigating the Condition-of-England question. At no time has this country been without some individuals among the upper classes who from taste devoted themselves to this pursuit ; but at no time has the proportion of the aristocracy, titled and un- titled, which earnestly engaged in it, been so great as now.

The latest in the field of the "noble authors "who have taken the social diseases of the country and the remedies for them as their theme, is Lord WILLOUGHBY DE Eitesny. A letter from his Lordship has appeared in the Times this week, propounding measures for the relief of the agricultural labourers. It is impres- sive from its unaffected earnestness; it bears traces of a deep sense of the responsibilities of the great owners of the soil, and of much previous observation and inquiry ; and (the natural consequence of such research) it contains some curious information. As an example of the information to which we refer, may be men- tioned two instances of abuse to which the New Poor-law has given occasion, which we have not observed touched upon before. "Given occasion," we say, without meaning to imply that any defect in the law has produced them : there is a perversity in human nature that under any law will generate abuse—the law can only be said to oc- casion abuse in the sense that its pressure forces it to assume a new form. The first abuse alluded to is, "a frequent practice at pre- sent to collect private subscriptions as well as the parochial rates, with the view of giving a cheaper relief than that authorized by law and sanctioned by the Board of Guardians; the object being, under the disguise of charity, to relieve the pockets of the rate- payers, by obliging the labourer, under threat of the workhouse, to accept an inferior rate of wages or a lower amount of relief than would be ordered him by the Board." From this it would appear, that selfish people conspire to make the labourer's dread of the workhouse the instrument to frighten him into the ac- ceptance of a more inadequate pittance than the terrible "three Kings of Somerset House" deem a proper minimum. The other abuse touched upon by Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY has more the appearance of proceeding from the administrators of the Poor-law than from conspirators to pervert that law to their own uses. "I may take this occasion to reprobate another injurious practice, by which many children are deprived of the opportunity of education. The young children of widows and others receiving out-door relief are compelled to work ; their trifling earnings are deducted from the relief given to the parents ; whose forlorn condition is rendered even more miserable by increased expenses in food and clothing consequent upon the labour and exposure of the children. The em- ployment of such children under the age of twelve should be prohibited by law."

Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY divides his remedies for the dis- tress of the agricultural labourers into two classes,—those which Government, and those which the landed proprietors have it in their power to apply. To Government he recommends a modification of the Poor-law. He proposes in the first place to make the construction and main- tenance of all roads, district as well as national, compulsory ; and to vest the management of them in the Boards of Guardians. The Boards to appoint the surveyors, and the surveyors to employ labourers in want of work at a rate of remuneration 20 per cent lower than the average wages of independent labourers in the neighbourhood. The wages of the unemployed labourers set to work upon the roads to be paid out of a labour-rate, established by law, appropriated exclusively to give them employment, and levied exclusively on lands of the value of 201. a year and upwards, "as persons assessed below that amount are unable to employ la- bourers, and very frequently in difficulties themselves." Lastly, the admission of unemployed labourers, excepting a very small pro- portion, " say one in ten" of the whole number at any time out of work, to be prohibited. One recommendation of his plan is, that it draws a distinct boundary-line between the pauper and the labourer whom a tem- porary pressure has made for a time dependent on charity. By , keeping these two classes apart, it spares the feelings of ;'m latter, and, what is still more important, diminishes the danger of their contracting pauper habits and subsiding permanently into that class. Another recommendation is, that it promises to introduce a more systematic and satisfactory management of roads, at the same time that it renders available for their ecletruction a fund of surplus labour which it is difficult to turn to account. To bring the produce of the unemployed labourer, for which he is paid out of an assessment at a reduced rate, into competition with that of the employed labourer receiving the fair market wages, has a ne- cessary tendency to disturb that rate and increase the embarrass- ment of the labouring class. Permanent public works— aot sub- jected to the varying demands of the commercial market—do Lot dis- turb the prices in the labour-market. In many countries of modern Europe these have been allotted to keep convicts employed; but

Commonly d'Eresby, but DE LIMEY in the signature of his Lordship's published letter. Icertainly the honest thrown out of work against their will have a prior claim to the indolent and vicious. In a moral point of view, too, there seems to be something objectionable in keeping convicts at work in the public sight : it has much the same effect as slavery in accustoming men to look upon a class of their fellow-beings as less than men. It must be kept in view that the object of Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY'S proposal is, to procure a more perfect adaptation of the poor-law to the wants of the rural districts—tit leaves untouched the question what is to be done in the manufac- turing districts. As supplementary to his proposed amelioration of the Poor-law, the noble writer recommends "the encouragement of well-com- bined plans of emigration." This subject appears less familiar to him ; for there is a vagueness in his suggestions respecting emigra- tion, that contrasts strikingly with his precise, detailed, practical estimates when writing about the Poor-law. °frills part of his letter, therefore, it is unnecessary to say more than that he has recognized a great general truth—that this country requires a systematic emi- gration, (or more correctly colonization ) totally distinct from and working independently of, though simultaneously with, its Poor- law management. Turning to the large landed proprietors, Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY emphatically observes—" Let them not be deterred by any personal trouble, or the appearance (for I am persuaded it would be only an appearance) of personal sacrifice; and I venture to predict that we shall bear much less of the suffering and dis- order of the labouring population." This remark is followed up by one well worthy of attention' and highly creditable to the bene- nevolence and Justice of the landlord who makes it—" At any time it would be natural that the tenant (who has agreed to take upon himself the payment of the rates) should endeavour to reduce the burden ; but, under the present depression of prices, it cannot be expected that he should fulfil his obligation, or find work for the unemployed labourers, which many landlords have insisted on, unless he be relieved by a corresponding reduction of rent."

The remedies which are inditated as in the power of the indivi duals are—" a judicious system of allotments," and, "as a still further stimulus to industry and frugality," on every estate "a certain number of small farms, large enough to support a family above the condition of a labourer • thus encouraging the industrious by a prospect of advancement inife, and restoring to the commu- nity a most valuable class of men now almost extinct, between the mere labourer and the large farmer."

These two suggestions hang together, and the allotments have of necessity precedence. It would not be good either for landlord or tenant to give farms, however small, to men who had not even the little capital necessary to turn them to good account. When means have been devised to give the steady industrious labourer' a chance of raising himself in time to the rank of a small capitalist, then will come the time to discuss the feasibility of reverting pax- tially to the small-farm system.

Allotment e are what Lord WILLOUGHBY DE EREBBY relies upon to effect this change in the circumstances of the class. The allot- ment system, he says, is a means of bettering the labourer's con- dition, by "giving him some comforts and advantages," and "de- livering him from the ruinous consequences of the occasional want of employment." It is to be feared that an allotment cannot now-a- days be made to afford comforts and advantages to an occupant unless its cultivation be made a part of his work, not of his amuse- ment. In all speculations for benefiting the labourer, we must keep in view his actual position. At the time when labourers had their allotments, agricultural labour was conducted with less of system and combination than now. In this age of large farms, tile-draining, and oil-cake, farming has assumed more of the com- bination and continuous effort of manufactures. The employed agricultural labourer, like the employed manufacturing labourer, has his whole time filled up. Proposing to better a labourer's condition by giving him an allotment, is saying that he will earn more by working one part of the day as a field-labourer and another as a gardener, one part of the day for one employer, (his master,) and another part for another employer, (himself.) Expe- rience, on the contrary, shows that men, in the present state of society, earn most when they stick steadily to one employment. Again, as to allotments delivering labourers from "the ruinous consequences of occasional want of employment," it is not easy to see how they can do so. The occasional want of employment of

an agricultural labourer formerly arose from farming arrange- ments leaving him spare time on his hands : now it arises from there being no room for him on the farm. The jobs of the occasionally employed labourers in the agricultural districts are making roads, fencing, &c.; the by-jobs, not of agriculturists, but of artisans. The truth is, that in a moral point of view it is most desirable that labourers and their families should be able to indulge habitually in the luxury of an allotment : this in- dulgence develops the taste and the moral sentiment : but in an

economical point of view, the attainment of this advantage must be a consequence of the labourer's bettered condition, rather than its

cause. The same remark -applies to the proposal to revert to the {small-farm system. If something can be done to enable steady and industrious labourers to lay by money, the individual who saves a moderate sum, or his son, will be ambitious of being something above a labourer. There will be again a demand for small farms; and it is highly probable that half-a-dozen intelligent men, eaelt

with his moderate capital, will turn their small farms to at least.as good account as one " bull-frog farmer" (to use Comorr's phrase) can one large farm which swallowsup the whole six. The landlord,

ton, would run less risk from the chance of failure of one or two of his small and not speculative farmers, than from the chance of fail- ure of the "bull-frog fanner," who is as apt to play "a bold game" as any manufacturer. But this state of things, however desirable, must be the result of a change in the present distribution of capi- tal—the restoration of a numerous body of small capitalists inter- mediate between the mammoth capitalists and those who depend exclusively on their industry of head and hand.

If Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY can induce Government to undertake its part of his benevolent project, there is good reason to hope that the second part—for the accomplishment of which he looks to individual exertions—will come about of itself.